10 things in tech you need to know today
1. Apple has revealed why it decided to build a smart watch. Technology was going to move onto the body and the wrist was a good starting point. Also, Apple feels watches will make us act more human than phones, which we've become too addicted to.
2. Snapchat has announced a few new security initiatives. It's creating a bug bounty program, meaning it will pay people who find holes in its security. It also released a transparency report. The report shows Snapchat was asked for user information 375 times by law enforcement officials over the past year. Snapchat is making it harder for third party apps to access its API too.
4. Investors are so desperate to get into expensive, late-stage rounds that some of them are raising impromptu side funds in order to make one large startup investment. These side funds can come together in just a few days, and firms like FirstMark Capital have raised them to get into Pinterest's $11 billion round, WSJ reports.
5. There's a good trend piece about what it's like to be a Stanford engineering student right now, and the great lengths tech companies will go to to recruit them. Many students are being offered over $100,000 straight out of school. Snapchat has offered recent graduates as much as $500,000 in stock and salary to join it.
6. A startup called Honor helps seniors find in-home care and it just raised $20 million. The app also lets family members track the care.
8. Salesforce is taking a stand against Indiana, so much so that CEO Marc Benioff wrote a $50,000 check to relocate one of his employees there. Indiana recently passed a controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act which allows residents to refuse service to the LGBT community if they feel it's against their beliefs.
9. Ticketing app SeatGeek has raised a $62 million Series C round. The app has more than 3 million downloads, WSJ reports.
10. Jeff Ma, the Blackjack genius who inspired the movie "21," sold his startup TenXer to Twitter for under $50 million. The startup makes management software for developers.